My journey in learning how to grow up, enjoy life and have some fun baking along the way.

Friday, July 1, 2011

CB: New York-Style Crumb Cake

Having baked our way (or semi baked as was my case) through the Sweet Melissa cookbook, the consensus among the SMS bakers was that we were having too much fun baking and blogging to just stop The call was put out, the challenge was accepted and we have now begun our journey through "Baked Explorations."

I actually hadn't heard of the book before that. But I am nothing, if not flexible, when it comes to needing to buy a new baking cookbook especially when it is right at the time where I have a Barnes and Noble Gift Card burning a hole through my pocket. So it was with some happiness that I realized the first cookbook was a coffee cake considering how readily I will leap at the chance to attack any baked good with an obscene amount of streusel topping.

But to be on the safe side, I halved the recipe and hoped for the best. I used an odd little pan I'd bought a few months back that was touted as a mini monkey bread pan. Why I bought this, I'm not sure as I have never made monkey bread and probably never will, but it worked perfectly for this cake. Even with halving the recipe I still managed 5 of these mini cakes, one of which left me blissfully full.

This recipe adapted very well to gluten free flour, and was wonderfully moist when I baked it. Given the smaller pans, I cut the baking time back to 30 minutes which worked out well. And even though I did not wait nearly long enough (or anywhere near it ) to let this cool, it still held it's shape as I popped it out of the pan and began to devour it.

I would like to say that I shared this but can't. I did however freeze a couple of the mini cakes for a future sugar fix and am hoping to have one soon.

That looks soo good. Can I ask what type of GF flour you used? I have several family members that can't have gluten and am always looking for ways I can accommodate them. Did you have to add in any other ingredients like xanthum gum?

Jess..I use King Arthur Flour's gluten free blend which has all the components mixed in: rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch and whole grain brown rice flour. It has worked really well for me with baked goods so far. Only not so good is that it can be expensive if you do a lot of baking..the price is around 6.99 for a 24 oz box.